Springfield-based Prime Trucking, Inc., one of the nation's largest trucking companies, is being sued by a federal agency.

Prime failed to take adequate steps to prevent a female truck driver from being sexually harassed, said a news release from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday.

A request for comment left with Prime was not returned by press time.

The lawsuit alleges that Prime continued to let independent contractor driver Eric Weekley drive with its employees after knowing he had sexually harassed a female trainee driver — without warning the employees about his past harassment.

Prime had stopped using Weekley as a trainer after the company found out that he sexually harassed at least one female driver trainee, the lawsuit says.

However, Weekley continued to work as a contractor for Prime and his overall pay was unchanged, the EEOC says. He became a co-driver with another female Prime employee, Melinda Huerta, in October 2016.

The trucking company did not warn Huerta about Weekley's past conduct or tell Weekley that he must not harass Huerta, the EEOC says.

Weekley continually talked about sex in graphic and violent terms during the six weeks that Huerta and Weekley were co-drivers, and he told her she would lose her job and commercial driver's license if she reported his behavior, the EEOC alleges.

The lawsuit includes specific comments that Weekley allegedly made to Huerta, which started as soon as they were on the road together.

Weekley showed Huerta pictures he had surreptitiously taken of another woman in his truck as she was climbing into the top bunk, the lawsuit says.

Huerta repeatedly told Weekley that his sexual comments were not welcome, according to court documents.

Weekley allegedly told Huerta that he had been arrested for rape and was under investigation for the death of his wife. He also said he had been caught with a gun in his truck, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Weekley tried to control Huerta by refusing to give her time to take care of personal needs or shower.

For weeks, Huerta was afraid to report Weekley to Prime, the suit says, because she feared for her safety and was worried that she would be fired.

After Huerta reported Weekley's harassment to Prime, she was not immediately placed on another truck, the lawsuit says.

Huerta "missed significant work and lost income" before she was placed on another truck and her position was "downgrad(ed)," the EEOC alleges.

Prime employs more than 2,000 people, the release said. It provides truck-freight services to customers in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

James R. Neely Jr., director of the EEOC’s St. Louis District, invoked the #MeToo movement in a statement about the lawsuit.

“Sexual harassment in the workplace is not new, but in this age of #MeToo, no company can bury its head in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening," Neely said in a statement. "Employers must take steps to protect their workers from this sort of inexcusable misconduct.”

Andrea G. Baran, regional attorney for the EEOC's St. Louis District said all employers have an obligation to take steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

"When employers fail to take those steps, they fail all their workers and enable a cycle of abuse and sexual harassment to continue," Baran said.

The EEOC is asking for the court to order Prime to institute policies and programs that provide equal employment opportunities for female workers. It's also asking for Prime to provide Huerta back pay and benefits with interest, compensation for losses related to emotional distress and punitive damages for its conduct.

The EEOC says it filed its lawsuit after Prime and the federal agency failed to reach a resolution through a conciliation process.